Saturday, August 23, 2008

Who is Lisa and why the leaf?

I consider each of my blogs a "leaf by Lisa". This is a take on a wonderful little short story called Leaf by Niggle written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published as part of his collection Tree and Leaf. It expresses one man’s desire to work on and complete something beautiful during his lifetime. Somehow life keeps getting in his way. You’ll have to read this little story to get the full idea and understand how his magnificent tree that turned into a full landscape all came down to one beautifully painted little leaf in the end.

He was the sort of painter who could paint leaves better than trees. He used to spend a long time on a single leaf, trying to catch its shape, and its sheen, and the glistening of dewdrops on its edges. Yet he wanted to paint a whole tree, with all of its leaves in the same style, and all of them different.

~ J.R.R. Tolkien, from Leaf by Niggle

My three family history blogs are each a small leaf in the landscape of my life and my family tree. I have been researching my family history for many years in the midst of the busy-ness of life. I hope you'll continue to enjoy reading a little bit of what I've learned throughout my search, and be inspired to look at the world in a different way than you might have before you visited.

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.

~ Henry David Thoreau

If you are a regular reader of Small-leaved Shamrock or are just stopping by for the first time, I'd love to hear from you. Post a comment or send me an email when you have a minute. Thanks for reading.